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February 3, 2011

Thursday Authorial: The Whitney Awards

The Whitney Awards is a program founded for the purpose of promoting stronger writing in the LDS literary community. Like other awards programs, titles are nominated (in this case fiction titles written by LDS authors and released that year), placed in genres, and are put through a voting process by readers and the numerous members of LDStorymakers. Hundreds of titles are submitted every year and though the program is only a few years old, writers are seeing the bar raised, and it is easier to see the quality that is now expected in LDS literature. Whether it is easier to obtain that quality in our own writing is up to us and our willingness to learn, try, write write write, and submit*.

Side note: *Submission is a great word for what you do when you present a ms to an agent or publisher. You not only hand in your attempt, but you have to be ready to submit to feedback, criticism, compromise, or rejection. And when I say submit to rejection, I only mean take another look at the ms and who you're submitting to, and try again.

The 2010 Whitney Award Finalists have been announced. It's an exciting list for me for several reasons. First, this is the first year I have authors I consider friends on the list! It changes the experience a bit to feel a thrill for people you care about. Second, I have actually read 7 of the finalist books! That may not sound like much when it is 7/35, but last year I had only read 2 (G.G. Vandagriff's THE LAST WALTZ and David J. West's HEROES OF THE FALLEN). I did, however, read more titles after the winners were announced, which is one of the great things to come out of the awards program. For more on the Whitney Awards and how they work, see here, and here.
This year's list has already inspired me to add to my to-read list. The competition is tight and varying, and not limited to LDS published titles. It blows me away how many nationally published best-sellers are written by LDS authors. A cousin asked me for a YA reading list for her daughter. It was packed with LDS authors. James Dashner (MAZE RUNNER), Shannon Hale (GOOSE GIRL), Kiersten White (PARANORMALCY), AprilynnePike (WINGS), Ally Condie (MATCHED), and more.

The bar is rising.

Here is a list of the nominees in their categories (the titles I've read are highlighted):

2010 Whitney Award Finalists

General

Band of Sisters

Blink of an Eye

The Cross Gardener

Finding Mercie

Lucky Change

Annette Lyon

Gregg Luke

Jason Wright

Blaine Yorgason

Susan Law Corpany

Historical

Alma The Younger

Oh Say Can You See?

The Sheen on the Silk

The Silence of God

Trespass

H.B. Moore

L.C. Lewis

Anne Perry

Gale Sears

Sandra Grey

Romance

Courting Miss Lancaster

Cross My Heart

The Legend of Shannonderry

Luck of the Draw

Meg’s Melody

Sarah Eden

Julie Wright

Carol Warburton

Rachael Renee Anderson

Kaylee Baldwin

Mystery

Cold as Ice

Crossfire

Murder by Design

A Time to Die

Wrong Number

Stephanie Black

Traci Hunter Abramson

Betsy Brannon Green

Jeffrey Savage

Rachelle J. Christensen

Speculative

Imprints

Mr. Monster

Pathfinder

The Scorch Trials

The Way of Kings

Rachel Ann Nunes

Dan Wells

Orson Scott Card

James Dashner

Brandon Sanderson

Youth Fiction—Speculative

Fablehaven 5

Matched

Paranormalcy

The Forbidden Sea

The Fourth Nephite

Brandon Mull

Ally Condie

Kiersten White

Sheila Nielson

Jeffrey Savage

Youth Fiction—General

Glimpse

Missing In Action

My Double Life

The Healing Spell

Wolves, Boys, and Other Things That Might Kill Me

Carol Lynch Williams

Dean Hughes

Janette Rallison

Kimberly Griffiths Little

Kristen Chandler

Good luck to all the nominees, and thank you for setting a higher standard!

LDSWBR

Favorite Quote of 2009:

"Congratulations! Today we officially accepted The Orchard for publication. It's a unique story that captured our imagination, and we love the way you crafted and developed both the plot and the characters. Your revisions were excellent, and we are pleased to be able to bring your book to the LDS market."-Covenant Communications